Mayor Patrick McCrory welcomed Conference of
Mayor's President Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles during his recent visit to
Charlotte for NACo's 65th Annual Conference, providing Mayor Coles with a
pedestrian, van and trolley tour of the city's many redevelopment projects
now underway throughout the city.

Joined by Conference Executive Director J.
Thomas Cochran, Coles started the day long tour at the joint City of
Charlotte/Mecklenberg County office building. The group then visited
various rail locations and housing projects, both low-income, mixed income
and market rate developments, largely in downtown and surrounding
neighborhoods.

One of the most high-profile initiatives now
underway in the Charlotte area is its integrated transit and land use
plan. The region's transit plan will invest in trolleys, light rail and
busways to underpin the area's smart growth efforts which emphasizes
redeveloping downtown neighborhoods. Travelling on an historic trolley
line, McCrory showed Coles the many downtown housing and retail projects,
both rehabilitation and new construction, that anticipate the region's
multi-year rail investment plan. In addition, the mayors toured downtown
housing and retail projects that have received strong financial backing
from Charlotte-based banks, like Bank of America and First Union. As a
result, thousands of units of high-density housing are already under
construction or permitted for construction in the downtown
area.